


'do you need me to spend the night?'

by Drhair76



Series: You don't have to say I love you to say I love you [7]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Derek Morgan needs a hug, Gen, Kevin is too, M/M, Penelope is a good friend, he's just awkward, not yet but he will soon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-12 05:22:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18004610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drhair76/pseuds/Drhair76
Summary: "Good luck man. The new coach is kinda weird.""Weird?" He asked. "How?"Mark nudged Darrel who just shrugged, his eyes downcast."He's just weird."or, Derek has his first run in with the new football coach and Penelope is worried.





	'do you need me to spend the night?'

"Derek!" Penlope's voice dragged him away from his conversation with his teammates. "Walk me home?" 

He looked over to see her looking at him expectantly, arm-in-arm with Kevin, who was giving him the same look. She was bright today, an almost blinding yellow and white polka dot dress complete with a matching hat. Kevin looked underdressed compared to her.

  "I'll be right there babygirl!" He called back, ignoring his teammates sniggers. "Coach wanted to meet with me." 

He turned back to his friends, to see Mark looking at him with a shake of his head. "Good luck man. The new coach is kinda weird." 

"Weird?" He asked. "How?"

  Mark nudged Darrel who just shrugged, his eyes downcast.

"He's just  _weird_."

....

"Do we really have to wait for him Penny?"  Penelope sighed and turned her glare from her on-the-brink-of-dying-phone to her bored looking best friend. 

"Yes." She sighed for what felt like the fifth time. "I haven't seen him all day. And besides, you haven't either."

  "That's true," Kevin admitted. "But we've been here for hours. Your mom's probably gonna think we're going on another date." 

Penelope wrinkled her nose at that. Her and Kevin went out once in eight grade before they both realized that they were better off as friends. Everything was just too awkward when they were dating and they couldn't even talk about tech without everything being stilted and uncomfortable. 

"Oh! There he is!" She gasped, quickly standing up and brushing off her dress. 

Derek came out of the locker room with his bag on his back and a jacket thrown over one shoulder. There was a look on his face that gave Penelope a pause but she brushed it off and bounced over to meet him.

  He seemed shocked that she was still there. "Oh! Penelope." 

She threw her arms around her and ignored his tiny flinch. It took a little bit longer than usual for his arms to wrap around her but they did. 

She pulled away and Derek greeted Kevin with a fist bump. 

"You guys waited for me?" There was a little vulnerable shake in his voice that made Kevin frown. 

"Yeah. Although I have an essay to write, Penelope wanted to be a good friend or something." Kevin said with a good natured shrug. 

"You okay?" Penelope asked and Kevin was grateful that he wasn't the only one who noticed the weird air surrounding Derek. 

"Ah, yeah. I'm fine babygirl. Promise." He added after Penelope leveled a skeptical look at him. "Nothing a little sleep can't fix." 

"Fine." Penelope sighed before turning on her heel. "Let's go then." 

"Okay Queen Penelope." Derek said with a little laugh and Kevin chuckled. 

....

The walk home was unusually quiet.  Not on Kevin or Penelope's end of course, they had a lot to tell Derek. About their day, their classes, their teachers, their stupid classmates. (Penelope's words not Kevin's-he actually thought his classmates were fairly intelligent.) 

Most of the time when they walked home together their conversation was balanced. Derek usually had a little more to say than Kevin and Penelope trumped them all, but Kevin felt like he was doing the talking for both himself and Derek.

  "Hey, you okay?" Kevin asked once he was finally tired of trying to prompt Derek into the conversation for the fifth time.

"Huh?" He blinked. "Oh yeah. I'm good. I'm just ready for the weekend." 

Penelope beamed. "Oh yeah, are you excited for skating?" 

"Skating?" Derek repeated dumbly and Kevin winced. 

"...Skating..." Penelope said again, twirling her hands in a prompting motion. When Derek still looked confused Penelope frowned. "As in this weekend we're all going skating." 

"Yeah, she's been planning this for weeks now." Kevin added. "She made sure to take Spencer's chess club, JJ's piano lessons and your various practices into account so everyone could come." 

"You weren't listening." She said in that little way she had, where it was clear she just realized something and it made her upset. 

"Oh no babygirl, I swear I was-my head's just not in it right now." Derek said erenestly. 

"Oh." She whispered. "Where is your head today?" Derek looked troubled for just a second before his face smoothed out into a smile. 

"Just thinking about what coach told me. We've got a big game coming up." 

Penelope wasn't a idiot but she decided that for now, she'd drop it. 

They walked to Kevin's house, dropped him off and continued walking. It was quiet for a while before she spoke up. 

"I know you wanted me to drop it, and I swear, this is me dropping it. But...you really don't seem like yourself Der, and I'm worried about you." 

Derek felt an intense love for Penelope despite the fact that he definitely didn't want to talk about what happened in that office. And maybe he didn't deserve her, but she at least deserved the truth. 

"Thanks Pen. You're right, I'm not okay." 

Thankfully Penelope filled in the blanks. "But you don't want to talk about it do you?" 

Derek shook his head. "Sorry." He mumbled.

  "Oh no!" She cried reaching out and grabbing his arm, effectively stopping them in their tracks.

"Derek Morgan don't you dare apologize to me for not wanting to talk. I just want to make sure that you're okay. I'd never forgive myself if you were in pain and I didn't do my best to help you."

Derek smiled at the bright girl and nodded.  "I know. Quite honestly, I don't know what's wrong." He admitted. "I'm just not feeling good right now."

 Penelope nodded. "Do you need me to spend the night?" 

"No, I'm okay. I'll probably just text Spencer if I'm feeling up to it." 

She studied him for a moment before determining that he was telling her the truth.

 "Okay." She said. "But you know I'm here whenever you need me right?" 

Derek smiled at her. It was shaky and it didn't entirely reach his eyes but it was there. "I know." 

**Author's Note:**

> if it wasn't clear Morgan's new coach is Carl Buford and I'm so sorry but I had to


End file.
